Frontal Alpha Asymmetry as an Index of Willingness to Interact with Virtual Agents in Users with Depressive Symptoms

Socially engaging interactive systems, like virtual agents, can be employed as “companions” or “therapists”, promoting wellbeing and mental health. To favor the actual usage of this kind of technologies, it is crucial to identify the features influencing users' perception and acceptance toward them. Traditionally, user acceptance is assessed through self-report questionnaires which, however, do not shed light on the affective and motivational state of users during the interaction. These important aspects could be explored through EEG signal analysis, which would provide an objective measure of users' preferences and usage intentions. This work investigates the relationship between users' willingness to interact with virtual agents and frontal alpha activity, trying to provide useful insights on the affective and motivational states of users, with and without depressive symptoms, when interacting with happy, neutral and sad virtual agents.